Monday, June 30, 2008

Almost Time for Big Brother!

Yes, summer is here! And my favorite reality show! What's better than the show? BBDish!

I found Caroyln's blog 3 seasons ago, and I'm positively addicted. Last season (yes, the wierd winter season) I broke down and ordered Showtime so I could see the after hours shows, but honestly, they pale in comparison to Carolyn's blog.

I'm not making apologies for my addiction to Big Brother. It's one of (several) shows that my daughter and I really enjoy watching together, and it is definitely the only reality show I'd consider making an appearance myself. Well, maybe not the only one...I've always wanted to be on Wheel of Fortune :-)

I guess it helps that summer is so dull on tv. I mean, I like some of the cable stuff--Army Wives is kind of cool. It was last year anyway. I keep thinking it will get better this year. And that new one, In Plain Sight (hope I spelled all that correctly) seems good so far. But mostly I can skip summer tv, and by the time Big Brother airs, I'm ready!

The only problem so far had been that Camille is the only other person I know who pays attention to BB. This year my best friend, Jackie, promises to watch. It will be interesting to have another member of the audience to discuss things with in real life...but I'm sure it won't keep me away from the dish!

Friday, June 27, 2008

My Latest Hubs

I had a blast writing hubs yesterday. First, I woke up with an idea in my mind, and I woke up early enough to actually write and publish it before my work day started. I've read that some of the best money-making hubs are product reviews, but other than books, I just wasn't finding much inspiration....until yesterday. Find out why I love my headset!

After work, I was browsing HubPages's "requests" and noticed one asking what happens when someone got struck by lightening. I grabbed the phone and called my sister Julia to interview her. She told me to call my other sister, Deborah, who was an eye-witness. Between the two of them, a fun story emerged. Find out what happened when Julia got struck by lightening.

Today I'm anixously waiting for the next inspiration! Let me know if you have any ideas for me :-)

Monday, June 23, 2008

My Baby is Away from Home

My baby has left home for a whole week. Okay, my "baby" is sixteen, but she's out-of-state with a bunch of strangers! Okay, the "strangers" are all from her Dad's church. One of the by-products of divorce and co-parenting is that I have to trust his and her judgement more than I might if we shared all of the same activities and acquaintances.

When I whined about not seeing her for a week and hugged her goodbye, she laughed at me and reminded me she had been away for a week at church camp once. "But you were still in NC and I could come get you if I needed to," I told her. She is all the way in Alabama, and when she called me at almost 11 last night, the distance really sank in when she told me they are in a different time zone!

The group is on a mission trip, helping with home repairs. She wasn't sure of the details but said she knew they would be building a handicap ramp and doing some deck work. Her packing list required a hammer, screw drivers and a toolbelt, and suggested they wear long pants to work. My baby, doing hard labor?

I'm excited for her, really, but this is just another milestone reminding me how fast the years have gone, how fast the next few will fly.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Bananas are Unlucky?

How did I not know this? Apparently bananas bring bad luck to fisherman. A quick google search will give you all the theories, so I won't try to recap, but how did I not know this? I've fished all my life and I don't remember anyone ever telling me that bananas were bad luck.

I also discovered in today's surfing that chicken bones are good luck. DauDau always brought fried chicken on our fishing trips, so maybe that explains her fishing success.

We are headed to the Outer Banks in a few weeks and meanwhile, I think I'll do a little fishing superstition research. It can't hurt!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

I Feel Good: The Secret

I'm sitting in my garage, in the relative cool, chillin', enjoying my Sunday night.

We have had a nice weekend--low-key but nice. Friday night with friends and a good d.j. at O'Dwyers, Saturday night visiting friends (Ginger & Louie), and today while Ken watched the race, I ventured to the book store with my dear friend Jackie. I limited myself to one book....more on that later. We had a late lunch at Champs after our browsing at Barnes & Noble, and I have to admit (apologies to Jackie) I didn't "feel" so good while at lunch. I've had a cold. Not the worst cold I've ever had but aggrevating nonetheless, and that's probably all that was holding me back. I did enjoy visiting and the food was pretty good :-)

Bookstores have traditionally gotten me in trouble. It is so hard resist everything that catches my eye, and as an avid reader, everything catches my eye! I started with the New Release section, intending to select a title that would prompt me to write a Book Review for my HubPages. But I can grab a good novel at the library. While I used to collect novels, especially signed copies written by Southern writers, I now prefer to check things out at the library first, and then buy them if I'm sure I'll read them again. So I browsed back and forth between the novels, the self-help section, the New Age titles, and the bargain books. Eventually I stumbled across a copy, 30% off, of The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. I've had a copy of the DVD for over a year, and while I love the movie, I cannot always hog the living room tv where the DVD player resides. I've wanted a copy of the book for a while. I got back home today and devoured every word, finishing the book in about 4 hours, with a few breaks to check in on the race, eat some dinner, and put a few dishes in the dish washer.

The Secret has had a lot of hype and accommpanying criticism since it's release. Too bad. It never ceases to inspire me. I know the impact it has had in my life in the last year, and the impact of similar works and focus on the Law of Attraction for longer than that. I know the signicance of how good I feel--right now--this second--and how good I came to realize I felt as I was reading.

Feeling Good is a good thing! It leads to feeling EVEN BETTER. Everyone should find a tool that works for them. If you don't have one of your own already, I highly recommend The Secret.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Preddyfest!

It was HOT! So funny, really. They moved it to June, hoping for cooler weather, and my family was so excited. I told 'em, don't jinx it! June in NC can be just as hot....maybe I jinxed it because sure enough we had 100 degree temps almost the entire time.

So, time for pics...thanks, Penny--I stole them from your myspace!



Samantha Casey - young star! One of the things I love most about Preddyfest is seeing all of the talented youth. She can play the heck out of that fiddle, and sing, too!



Ken & me in the golf cart....



Penny copying me! James signed my shirt a couple of years ago. Actually, I don't think I've ever been to Preddyfest without getting a James King autograph. Love the new gospel cd!



James King performing. Love it!



The campsite.





Daddy & Julie's sweet Shitzu family :-) and below, Daddy & Julie with the golf cart.





Daddy getting a little practice in.



And my favorite pic of all--me and my sistas!









Monday, June 2, 2008

Rambling: Dreams, Busy, Preddyfest!

I had the most unsettling dreams last night! You know the ones where you are trying to wake up and get out of the dream and you just can't? And these just kept going on and on and on. I dreamed about waking up and telling Ken about the dream, and in the dream about the dream I dreamed I was touching myself and asking am I really awake, is this really happening now? and then something else horrible would start dreaming. I've never experienced a real life panic attack, but I have to imagine it is similar to these dreams. I feel like I can't breath, like I simply must wake up in order to breath, and I just can't. I talked to a friend of mine today and she said she had bad dreams last night, too. Wonder if our dreams are affected by something in the atmosphere...was it a full moon?

Luckily I've been way too busy at work today to dwell too much on my dreams. Of course now that I've been awake so long I don't remember many of the gory details, just the feeling of it all. I've hardly had a break today, which is good of course--we want to be busy! But I have lots to do before Thursday....

And Thursday is PREDDYFEST! I can't wait! My sister Julia and some of her friends have set up a camper and roped off an area for the rest of us. I think my dad, his wife and my step sister are coming in tomorrow; my sister Deborah is coming up from SC Wed. I have Wed off to pack and start cooking, but I know I'm going to be anxious to drive on up. Ken says 3 days is enough and he doesn't want to go until Thursday, but I'm ready now!

Preddyfest is a three day bluegrass festival held just outside of Franklinton. That makes is only 20 minutes away for us. We camp on the property, but Ken and I cheat. We wake up every morning and come home for a shower and a nap. The bands are awesome, but the real fun starts after the stage closes around 11 and the "amatuer" picking starts in the campground. We've been going since about year 2 or 3...8 years? Wow! My dad and Julia have been the last 3 or 4 years, and this will be Deborah's first trip. Did I say I'm excited?

Back to work now...I'll try to post a detailed recap when we get back!